When it comes to the forthcoming EU referendum and its potential impact on employment law, there are as many different opinions as there are lawyers...

But the broad consensus is that if the nation votes “yes” to leave the EU on June 23, it will “almost certainly” impact the legal rules which govern British workplaces and have consequences for both employers and their employees.

Here, three leading Manchester-based employment lawyers give their personal perspective on how the legislation might evolve...

Fiona Hamor, partner at Manchester-based law firm Pannone Corporate.

“Most people do not appreciate just how much of UK employment law comes from the EU.

“Discrimination rights, collective consultation obligations, transfer of undertakings regulations, family leave, working time regulations including the right to paid holiday and duties to agency workers all stem from European directives.

“In theory, the UK government could repeal all of these laws, however most commentators believe that this is unlikely to happen for a number of reasons.

“It is widely thought that as the UK will have to retain a relationship with the EU after Brexit, and the price of a trade agreement may well be adherence to a certain amount of EU employment and social protection.

“Some of the protections employees now enjoy under EU law, such as equal pay, race and disability discrimination laws, and the right of return from maternity leave, were already provided to some extent by UK law.”

“Whilst it is not likely that the government would want to remove these longstanding protections, there may be an element of tinkering round the edges.

“For example, a cap could be imposed on discrimination compensation similar to that for unfair dismissal.

“Even where there was no pre-existing UK law, the government is unlikely to remove well established protections such as family leave, discrimination rights and the right to paid holiday under the Working Time Regulations (WTR).

“However, there are aspects of the rights under the WTR that the government may want to amend in the event of a Brexit.

“In particular, the recent decisions of the European Court of Justice on the calculation of holiday pay, rolled up holiday pay, and the right to holiday during periods of sickness absence have been extremely unpopular and caused problems for UK employers.”

Naeema Choudry, a partner in the human resources practice group at Manchester law firm Eversheds:

“EU law is the source of many UK employment rights.

“At times it has become a controversial and politicised issue, reflecting criticism from some UK employers and politicians that Brussels is too quick to legislate and pays insufficient attention to objections raised by Member States.

“Given this background and depending on which political party is in power, a vote to leave the EU could precipitate workplace change with the possibility of some EU employment laws being rolled back.

“However, in my view the likelihood of major employment law change in the event of a Brexit is small, at least in the short to medium term.

“Instead, delay and uncertainty followed by piecemeal change, which would depend on the terms of the UK’s relationship with the EU after it leaves, is more likely.

“Of much greater concern to many employers is the impact Brexit may have on the free movement of workers.

“No specific employment law proposals have been published during the renegotiations although David Cameron has previously suggested that reform of the Working Time Directive is an objective.

“But despite the difficulty of forecasting the impact of Brexit, some themes do emerge.

“On the one hand, the complexity and lack of precedent bring significant legal, financial, commercial uncertainties.

“On the other, a vote to leave would not result in overnight change.

“Instead, a negotiation of the UK’s relationship outside the EU would commence, possibly lasting years.

“During that negotiation, the more the UK pushed for continuing access to the EU’s Single Market, the more the EU would require, in return, for the UK to abide by EU regulation, the free movement of people and so on.”

Sara Barrett, partner at the Manchester office of Mills & Reeve:

“A significant proportion of the UK’s employment law comes from the EU, including discrimination rights, collective consultation obligations, transfer of undertakings regulations.

“In fact, where would UK employment law have been if not for the EU?

“A major conundrum is discrimination law.

“We were way ahead of the EU in terms of Race Relations, but possibly could have been said to have dragged our feet on sex discrimination.

“Even under a progressive Labour government, the UK didn’t introduce the age, religion and sexual orientation strands until it was required to do so under the Framework Directive.

“In theory, if there is a vote to leave, the UK government could repeal all of this.

“However, it is unlikely to take this step and it is far more probable that EU law will continue to exercise a significant influence even after a Brexit.

“There are various reasons for this.

“Many EU protections were already provided by UK law, for example, the right to return to work post maternity.

“Much employment law, such as family leave, discrimination rights and the right to paid holiday is regarded by both employers and employees as a good thing.

“The UK will of course continue to have a relationship with the EU, the price of which is partly likely to be demonstrating similar protections for employees.

“Isn’t “local” modification of EU driven legislation much more likely to be the approach rather than full scale repeal?”